The death toll from an attack on a Catholic church in eastern Congo by extremist rebels backed by the Islamic State has risen to 34, according to local officials.
"The bodies of the victims are still at the scene of the tragedy, and volunteers are preparing how to bury them in a mass grave that we are preparing in the Catholic church complex," said the civil society coordinator in Komanda, in Ituri province where the attack took place.
He also said that the attackers stormed a church in Komanda at around 1 a.m. Several houses and shops were also set on fire. Video footage showed burning buildings and bodies on the floor of the church.
At least five people were killed in an earlier attack on the nearby village of Machongani.
Both attacks are believed to have been carried out by members of the Allied Democratic Forces (ADF) armed with pistols and machetes.
The military has confirmed at least 10 casualties, while local media reports put the total death toll at more than 40.
A UN-backed radio station said 43 people were killed. It said the attackers came about 12 kilometers from the Command center and fled before security forces could arrive.
One witness condemned the attack "in the city where all the security officials are present." He added: "We demand military intervention as soon as possible, because we are told that the enemy is still close to our city."
Eastern Congo has suffered deadly attacks in recent years from armed groups, including the ADF and Rwanda-backed rebels. The ADF, which is linked to Islamic State, operates in the border area between Uganda and Congo and frequently attacks civilians.
The ADF was formed by various small groups in Uganda in the late 1990s following dissatisfaction with the rule of President Yoweri Museveni, who had been president of Uganda continuously since 1986.
In 2002, after an offensive by the Ugandan army, the group moved its activities to neighboring Congo and has since been responsible for the killings of thousands of civilians.
In 2019, she pledged allegiance to the Islamic State.
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